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Over 100 playworkers and play advocates have united to refute the UKIP claim that immigration stops children playing out together, and to highlight the real reasons for the decline in outdoor play.

This is a copy our letter, which is being sent to 3000 election candidates today, calling for government support for community play.

Play advocates are encouraged to adapt it with examples and quotes from families to use in local campaigns*

*Please remove signatories if the letter is altered in any way.

Children, allegedly not playing together because of their different backgrounds, send a message to UKIP

Dear Candidate,

Following the recent assertion, from Nigel Farage of UKIP, that immigration divides communities to the extent that children can no longer play outside together, we would like to assure you that in our experience of supporting community play over many years, this is not true.

We would, however, like to highlight evidence of the real barriers to outdoor play.

Play is in some ways a delicate thing, largely unnoticed by the adult world. Yet when children are free to play, they thrive. There is plenty of evidence that playing is vital to their development, essential to good mental health and physical activity. It is how children discover their identity and their passions. Most importantly, playing is how they most enjoy being alive.

Children play regardless of their differences, and the friendships they form through play make up the social fabric that strengthens families – and whole communities. Over a number of years there has been a great deal of research into the barriers that children face to their natural desire to play with their friends in the public spaces near their homes.

The number one offender is invariably traffic, followed by parental anxiety about ‘stranger danger’.

Research (by Ipsos MORI, NOP and a range of academic institutions) over a number of years has shown that other reasons for children not playing out as much as they and their parents would like, are anxieties about bullying, too much rubbish, poorly maintained or boring playgrounds and a lack of trusted adult oversight. In recent years, fear of accusations of bad parenting has also been cited as a reason for keeping children inside. Pressure on both children’s and adults’ time – from school and work respectively – is another.

These barriers have become so great that some studies estimate that today’s children have less than 10 per cent of the space for free play, compared to only 30-40 years ago. Strong links have been made between this decline and a range of poor health trends.

None of the evidence that we have looked at suggests that immigration is a significant factor.

On the contrary, children playing outside bring people together and engender strong, cohesive communities. We see children from diverse backgrounds playing together in their local neighbourhoods every day, but to enable and support more children to play outside – the way they have for countless generations all over the world – we need to control traffic, not immigration. Children and their parents need to have confidence in the public spaces where they would play.

They need more road closures, lower speed limits, safe routes to school and play areas, more and better community policing; and funding for playwork and community play projects. In the longer-term, planning decisions and spatial development strategies must consider what children need from the built environment and the wider public realm.

We would like to invite you to meet some of us and to visit the streets, estates and villages where you can see for yourself the power of community play. We would also be more than happy to discuss with you how the new government can support children’s play after the election.

Please pledge today to work with us to improve the spaces where families live; to support community play for the UK’s children – in all their glorious diversity.

13 Responses to “Dear politicians, playing children bring communities together – but they need you to protect their space”

Reblogged this on Rethinking Childhood and commented:
A timely, heartfelt yet reasoned response to recent political comment on children’s right to play, which I am happy to put my name to. Please share far and wide – and more importantly, please raise the issue with your local candidates. My thanks to Adrian, and to Penny Wilson of Play Association Tower Hamlets, for their hard work in pulling this together.

Excellent work Adrian and Penny. Have commented on C&YPN story asking readers to click on the letter link and then ask for the straight answer to the straight question about their party policy on more children playing outdoors more.

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[…] group from the playwork sector, led by Adrian Voce, my predecessor at Play England, have published a public letter calling on politicians to recognise how play in fact brings communities together, an…. Some studies estimate that today’s children have less than 10 per cent of the space for free […]